Alaska State Troopers shot and killed a man in Healy Wednesday during an exchange of gunfire after a high-speed chase, according to an online report by the agency. It is the second trooper-involved fatal shooting in the Interior this week.
According to troopers, the chase began a little after 1 p.m., when troopers tried to stop a northbound pickup. The driver refused, and fired multiple shots at the pursuing officers. Troopers say they fired back and hit the driver, but he continued driving.
The dispatch says the chase ended when troopers laid spike strips on the highway and rammed the pickup to a halt. There was another exchange of gunfire and officers fatally shot the driver, who was later identified as 45-year-old Fairbanks resident Michael Grimes.
Troopers say no one else was injured in the shooting, including the law enforcement officers involved.
The passenger in the pickup, 42-year-old North Pole resident Melody Perry, was also not injured, according to troopers. Officers arrested her for third-degree misconduct involving a weapon and took her to the Fairbanks Correctional Center, troopers said.
Troopers intermittently stopped traffic on the Parks around Healy, between mileposts 250 to 257, for about three-and-a-half hours during the chase and afterward to investigate the scene and clear the wreckage.
The report says the troopers who fired their weapons were placed on administrative leave, as required by state Department of Public Safety policy. Their names will be released on Saturday, 72 hours after the shooting.
The Alaska Bureau of Investigation will look in to the shooting, as is also required by department policy. The findings will then be independently reviewed by the Alaska Office of Special Prosecutions, a routine requirement for officer-involved shootings.
A trooper spokesperson declined Wednesday evening to answer questions about the case.
The incident follows a trooper shooting of an armed man in Tok on Monday. Troopers say 21-year-old Timothy Thomas, of Northway, was shot after he tried to break into a room at the Three Bears Motel and brandished an assault-style rifle. That shooting also is under investigation.
Tim Ellis is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
